Anglo-Arab Already by the end of the XVIII century, when the English thoroughbred was established, the idea was harbored if it would be practical/possible to combine the skeletal mechanics and the speed of the thoroughbred with the endurance and undemanding qualities of the better tempered Arabian. With this, in reality reversed crossbreeding, began to experiment the German stud farm in Zweibrücken in the year 1892. Almost simultaneously this kind of crossbreeding was practiced on much greater scale by the French, who reached the best accomplishments in breeding of the Angloarabs, especially in southern France on the state stud farm in Pompadour.
The Anglo-Arab is easier to get on the bit than the Arabian and is easier kept off the forehand than the Anglican or the warmbloods.
The French hippologist Gayot (1888) recommended to crossbreed the English thoroughbred with the Arabian, the fullblooded offspring breed again to the Anglican and then the 3/4blooded progeny crossbreed again with the Arabian that was born in Europe. The breeding of the Anglo-Arabs received a great attention in Pompadour. With careful selections, inbreeding, nutritional adjustments and training, a particular type of the Anglo-Arabs was to a certain point stabilized/established, which is actually a difficult task, hence there were experiments done with various percentages of the English blood. Similar experiments were practiced in the entire French state-breeding program and were greatly supported by the government, because the Anglo-Arab was considered to be the best military riding horse. According to the percentage of the admixed English blood there were recognized Anglo-Arabs 75%, 50% and 25%; for example, if the 50% Angloarabian mare is covered by the Anglican, the progeny of this pairing has 75% of the English blood and 25% of the Arabian. Only the portion of the English blood is counted.
The progeny of a paring of an Arabian pureblooded mare with the English thoroughbred or vice versa, was by the Frenchmen called/named the Anglo-Arabian fullblood/pureblood. The products of other pairing of the Anglican and the Arabian were/are called Anglo-Arabian halfbloods; hence only one parent was a fullblood/purebred.
The biggest impediment/difficulty in the breeding of the Anglo-Arabs was in reaching certain uniformity among the fullblooded Anglo-Arabians, even when using inbreeding. It would be false to presume, that the latter mentioned progeny of the given percentage of the Arabian blood would show in exterior and naturally in the physiological characteristics of these horses; every horse has it’s own individuality and greater or smaller grace/appeal, but every horse is different. The most unbalanced, un-uniformed individuals are the products of two fullblooded Anglo-Arabians.
The best and most suitable are direct crossbreeds, hence 50% Anglo-Arabs, which is due to innate heterosis and all physiological and genetic advantages that derive from it.
All in all, it could be said, that the Anglo-Arabians are taller and more massive than the Orientals, they grow in average to about 15’3 hands, have shorter Arabian heads with all it’s appeals; on longer, lower set neck have always well developed withers, shorter elbow and loins than the Anglican, but they are longer and angular/edgy, have more or less slanted hindquarters/pelvis, also longer and more slant shoulder blade. The Angloar-Abians are excellent riding horses that combine in themselves the pleasant temperament and the endurance of the Arabian with the speed in movement of the Anglican. They have shorter gallop, higher and bolder trot than the English thoroughbred, but relatively flatter gaits than the Arabian. When correctly trained they are also good racehorses, jumping well and endure over longer distances under a heavier rider. As remounts they were very much thought out in many countries for the use in military. In some places were preferred the more English types, while elsewhere the Arabian types.
